A survey conducted by TelecomCareers.net both online and at the CTIA show reveals that 74 percent of 619 wireless industry professionals rated the current job market as "strong" or "growing."

Other findings from the JobSeeker Survey include:

• Verizon Wireless was identified as having the reputation of best wireless company to work for, with nearly double the respondents naming Verizon over number two Cingular Wireless.

• 3G and WiFi were the two leading technologies named by wireless professionals as spurring new segment growth.

• The Northeast and Southwest were named as the hottest regions for wireless jobs

(Thanks Brian!)

Strix Systems says it has succesfully deployed the largest-ever temporary use voice and data network at the Spring VON 2005 event. The company, a developer of wireless local area WiFi mesh networking claims that its Access/One Network, IWS (Indoor Wireless System), performed as expected.

According to the company, over 25 Access/One Network IWS nodes were deployed by a single IT manager in various locations at the San Jose Convention Center, including the registration areas, common areas, lounges, meeting rooms, general session rooms, and exhibit areas to provide 802.11g and 802.11a coverage. The Access/One mesh provided network access for workstations and printers in the registration areas, as well as general network access for over 450 attendees using WiFi phones, PDAs, and notebooks.

(Thanks Jennifer!)

Chief executives from a number of start-up companies in wireless technology will present their business plans at the Wireless Ventures Conference which will be held April 19 and 20 at the Sofitel San Francisco Bay in Redwood City, Calif.

Attendees will hear from companies focused on sectors including carrier products, mobile content, location-based services, mesh networks, enterprise communications, enabling technologies, and wireless messaging.

For more information, visit the event website.

If you're in the process of setting up your own wireless network, here are some capsule reviews of routers to help you get up and running. Reviewed are the Belkin Wireless Pre-N Router, the Linksys WRT54GX, the Netgear WGT624 108 Mbps wireless firewall router, and the D-Link DI-624 AirPlus Xtreme G router.

The PocketSurfer from DataWind is designed to help cellphone users load web pages onto their devices. By use of a Bluetooth connection, the half-inch thick PocketSurfer connects to a cellphone and uses its data signal to quickly load web pages. It also unfolds to reveal an LCD screen and a QWERTY keyboard.

A $30 adapter is available for non-Bluetooth phones. The company is planning to produce a WiFi-compatible version in the near future. PocketSurfer is priced at $199 and requires a $10 monthly Internet access fee for unlimited usages. The device can also work over traditional land-line phones by using an optional Bluetooth modem, priced at $100.

The City of Houston recently renewed its contract with Cingular Wireless last month, but is deciding hether it will stay a Cingular Wireless customer or give its wireless business to another carrier. The city is currently soliciting business for new wireless carrier services and will award a contract within the next 90 days.

The city has been under criticism for choosing a plan in 2001 that apparently did not provide enough usage minutes, which resulted in extensive overage charges. In addition, with city employees increasingly using handheld devices as well as wirelessly-enabled computers, Houston is re-evaluating its cellphone minute needs in is looking for a more cost-effective solution.

It seems that every city, town, and muncipality is rushing to provide free or low-cost WiFi access to its residents and local businesses. But is there that much demand for it? In Michigan, for example, the state's hotspots located in rest areas, state parks, and highway welcome centers are barely being used. Will this be true for the rest of the country? Will all the fuss that took place in Philadelphia late last year turn out to be a whole lot of nothing?

Broadband wireless services will soon be making their way to rural parts of Maine thanks to some local entrepreneurs. Mesh-Air Inc. will begin mounting a series of nodes in and around the Rockland-Thomaston area that feature a plastic antenna designed to bounce around until if finds the central, hard-wired base. According to the company, the nodes can be mounted on a house ridge in a key location to keep the network linked.

A new study from Pyramid Research indicates that WiMax technology will give fixed-line telecom providers a chance to compete in the wireless space with the ability to offer mobile voice and data services. According to the report, this means WiMax probably will be sold as a fixed broadband service and also will serve as backhaul for other services such as WiFi hotspots. In a couple of years, WiMax will be adopted by most telecom providers.

Wireless technology is beginning to find usage in the financial services market, but securing of customer information and other sensitive data is a top priority. With that in mind, a number of financial firms, including Wachovia Corp. and AXA Financial are deploying the 802.11i security spec for their wireless networks.

On Saturday, the Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum hosted a panel discussion on wireless business opportunites. Jeff Black of Partner Vision Ventures, Valerie Buckingham of Nokia Innovent, Jaideep Singh of Clearstone Venture Partners, and Moderator Joe Platnick from the Pasadena Angels each presented their perspectives on the business potential behind wireless innovations and new wireless applications. The presenters shared massive intel (i.e "drinking from a firehose") with the audience on topics ranging from Wi-Fi to cellular to location-based services, gaming and Bluetooth.

Key take-aways for mobile startups are… have a great team, create something new, develop cellular applications for more than one runtime environment (Java and BREW), and you can make millions on a few cents per downloaded application in a market of 900 million phones.

This 3 minute video (WMV) shows insights specifically on Bluetooth technology and how a startup can embrace the technology. Here's highlights:

If it's a critical component of your business plan, Valerie tells us that Bluetooth has a lot of potential in the consumer application space, Interesting stuff around gaming, BT tracking to consoles (Xbox, etc.) Kiosk connections, etc. It's a forgone conclusion Bluetooth will be there, but there's a lot of problems with Bluetooth. If you've ever tried to pair a BT phone you know it's still problematic.

Jeff speaks about attending the VON conference and meeting a hacker that seems to have exploited Bluetooth phones to make them dial a 900 number to "generate revenue".

Jaideep takes the view that Bluetooth is not an area for innovation. There's room for improvement, but everyones already has a BT stack.  He says that if he was starting a company he wouldn't spend time on BT innovation. Instead, he would build an interesting application around Bluetooth. It's like Wi-Fi. You're not going to go out and start a Wi-Fi chip company.  You're going to take advantage of existing infrastructure."

Also, this video segment touches on the panelists reponse to using Bluetooth at record breaking distances (like the 1 mile link I was involved in). Their response is that CDMA or GSM is better for long distance.

Watch (WMV file)

Although a WiMax standard has yet to be defined, Intel is determined to push the technology forward. They've just deployed a WiMax system at the U.K.'s National Museum of Science and Industry's reserve warehouses located in Swindon, Wiltshire. WiMAX antennae were placed on top of the 7 hangars currently in use by the museum and are connected wirelessly to the base station located in Intel's (appropriately enough) Swindon offices. Inside each of the hangars, six WiFi access points allow museum employees to roam while entering data onto a Tablet PC.

A new research report from Maravedis indicates that for WiMax to succeed in the marketplace, service providers are looking for CPE costs to fall below $300 within the next year as well as a need for higher throughput. According to the report, "WiMAX and Broadband Wireless (Sub-11Ghz) Worldwide Market Analysis and Trends 2005-2010," with the convergence between WiMAX and technologies including advanced 3GPP and 3.5G-4G cellular systems, there is an anticipation of signifcant market overlap by 2010. Simply put, Maravedis believes that if WiMax is to find a permanent niche, it has to get its costs down and provide the kind of broadband wireless access it promises to deliver.

Beginning with the fall 2005 semester, students at The College of William and Mary will participate in the IBM ThinkPad T42 notebook pilot program which will allow wireless Internet access in all academic buildings, most of the college's public spaces, and in various outdoor locations surrounding the campus. Plans also call for wireless access to be added in resident hall lobbies and lounges. In Fall 2006, all incoming freshmen students will be required to purchase a notebook PC, with the IBM ThinkPad designated as the preferred device.

MCI announced it has added to its global roster of hotspots. According to the company, it has launched 1,300 hotspots in Europe and the Asia-Pacific region and will launch 3,400 hotspots in the U.S. in May. In addition, hotspots will be situated in cafes, bookstores, and business centers as well as in typical locations such as airports and hotels.